The panel will discuss the impacts of the pandemic on international supply chains, including business interruption and force majeure claims, closure orders and related logistics challenges, government contracting issues, the handling of the pandemic in the UK and the EU, the regulation of international trade, and the aftermath – the longer term impacts of the pandemic on international commerce.

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Closed Captioned. The panel will seek to provide attendees with guidance on various legal and business issues that have emerged as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. Specifically, the expert panelists (details below) will review legal and business challenges that have emerged in international supply chains, including:

1. Business interruption-related issues, including force majeure claims as they relate to pandemics and various other contractual and liability issues related to suspension of work and termination of contracts. Lead panelist: Kenneth Rashbaum, Partner, Barton.

2. Jurisdictions across the US and abroad have dealt very differently with the pandemic and have issued a broad variety of business closure orders and other public health measures that have impacted supply chains. Panelist will share their experiences in dealing with these closure orders and strategies for ensuring the continuity of key supplies and that finished products can get to customers. Lead Panelist: John Tracy, President, Tracy-Hayden Associates.

3. Government responses to the pandemic have involved urgent government contracting for critical supplies on a grand scale. This urgent public procurement has involved a wide spectrum of procurement law issues, including emergency sole sourcing/directed contracting, hoarding and price gouging concerns, bid rigging and other related issues. The expert panelists will review government responses to these issues and the related legal and business issues that the profession needs to understand. Lead Panelist: Prof. Christopher Yukins, George Washington University.

4. Europe started to experience a sharp increase in cases earlier than the US and was at the vanguard in dealing with the pandemic from a business, procurement and legal perspective. The panel will review the EU and UK response and discuss key issues that emerged and share some of the procurement and legal solutions deployed by government authorities. Lead Panelist: Michael Bowsher, QC, Monckton Chambers.

5. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused profound disruptions to international trade. Our panelists will discuss some of the key customs and trade issues that have emerged, including government duty deferral/suspension programs, export controls on medical supplies, implications under various trade agreements, among other trade related concerns. Attendees will gain a better understanding of different government approaches to trade and the pandemic and get a better understanding of the key challenges facing clients that depend on international supply chains and offer some strategies and solutions for facing these challenges. Lead Panelist: Sabrina Bandali, Partner, Bennett Jones.

The current crisis and related lockdown measures will eventually end but will have long lasting impacts on the economy, trade and related laws and practices. Our panel will discuss the aftermath and the longer term implications of the pandemic on supply chains, procurement and international trade with a view to providing attendees with insights and strategies to assist them in in their thinking and planning for the "after-COVID-19".

Panelists will support their presentations with PowerPoint slides and reference to other written materials and source documents that will be available to attendees.